


Unapproachable & Unobtainable

by AmbientTeal91



Series: IT Story [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Death, Death Threats, Denial of Feelings, Developing Friendships, Drama & Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Fluff, Feelings Realization, Fights, Fluff, Friendship, Gang Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Martial Arts, Mental Instability, Monsters, Multi, Mystery, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Psychological Horror, Romance, Self-Worth, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slice of Life, Slurs, Some Humor, Stalking, Survival Horror, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Threats of Violence, Trauma, cosmic horror, horrible teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-13 17:49:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21498073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbientTeal91/pseuds/AmbientTeal91
Summary: "I was prepared from the very moment that I picked up my wooden sword"Anzu Kawakami had come from a different life, but due to a series of unfortunate events found her and her small family in Derry, Maine.  She is soon to discover more unfortunate situations, make new friends, make enemies, discover a ancient evil cosmic horror and perhaps find love. Her courage and friendship will be tested as new bonds are forged and as they say "Where there is love, there is life."
Relationships: Henry Bowers/Original Female Character(s)
Series: IT Story [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549564
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. The New New Kid

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story on here, hope ya'll enjoy.

Ch. 1:The New New Kid

(Regular POV)

September 1989

It didn’t matter what she wore, she was still very Japanese and in a very non-Japanese town called Derry, in Maine, USA. Mr. Kawakami, Anzu’s father, was very set on her sticking to the old ways. The old ways being that she would practice swordsmanship and she would do it without question, because he knew what it was like to be different in a different world. Mr. Kawakami wanted his only daughter to protect herself and to be disciplined in mind and body, she is no fool and he would see to that. He did have a heart however and knew she was still young, his only girl, his young, silly, brave girl; he understood that she needed a childhood to remember when she was older.

Anzu Kawakami stepped out of her father’s car into the parking lot of Derry high school, her credits indicated that she was a freshman. It was early in the morning, so students were being dropped off, quite a bit of the students were watching her and her father walking up to the school. Some of the them moved out of the way so that they could pass, Anzu kept her eyes on her father’s back, she was not allowed to look down or in her father’s words “Ashamed.”. Her father taught her to keep her head up and to stay strong, it wouldn’t be easy Mr. Kawakami said on the car ride here.

(Anzu’s POV)

“They will question you and try to make you feel unhappy about yourself. Take your time choosing your friends, Anzu. You must defend yourself and you must try to be nice to others.” His words echoed in my mind as we made our way to the front office desk. The woman there was typing fast on the computer, hardly looking up for anything or anyone. My father spoke sternly and that got her attention right away, they began the process of registering me. I got distracted and began looking around, there were so many kids most of them were Anglo, all of them in fact. I was wondering if there would be enough time to find my classes before I was late for 1st period.

“Anzu, it’s time.” I heard my father say, I looked around at him as he handed me what would be my schedule, he kissed my left temple and informed me that he’d be picking me up after school and that he loved me.

“Love you, too.” I said as he left the school. I braced myself and began reading where my classes would be and matching them up with the map I was given. It was still early, about an hour before classes would start, I may as well find my assigned locker. As it turns out, my locker wasn’t too far away from homeroom and getting to it was no hassle either, getting the combination lock open was tricky seeing as how I had almost forgotten the number combination.

(Normal POV)

Down the hall from where Anzu was still struggling with her locker, Bill Denbrough, Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier, and Stanley Uris were opening their lockers. Bill’s friends had been trying to distract him with their usual banter, but Bill’s mind was somewhere else. The police were never able to find his brothers body, Bill was already thinking of places where his little brother might have ended up.

“Hey look at that.” Bill heard Richie say, he looked around him in time to see a girl with long black hair, with slanted eye’s, she was almost about his height and she was definitely not from around here.

“A Chinese person? In Derry?” Eddie whispered to the others as he watched the girl Richie had pointed out go into English class.

“L-Looks l-l-like Stan and I h-h-have her f-for Morrison’s c-c-class then.” Bill said grabbing what he needed and closing his locker. Just then they saw Belch Huggins, Patrick Hockstetter, Victor Criss, and Henry Bowers walk right past them. Bill, Eddie, Richie, and Stanley collectively held their breaths as if by doing so the older boys wouldn’t see them.

The Bowers gang was perhaps the meanest band of boys they knew in Derry, they watched as the group shoved past kids as while making their way through the hall.

Henry Bowers’ was their leader, sandy blonde mullet, wore sleeveless shirts, ripped jeans, working boots, nasty attitude and even nastier temper; he was followed Reginald “Belch” Huggins, big heavy set boy, could possibly play on the football team were it not for his horrible reputation of beating up kids for Henry, always wore a band t-shirt, jeans, boots, he was the lead enforcer of the gang; Behind him was a skinny looking kid by the name of Victor Criss, light blonde hair, wore nice shirts and cargo pants with combat boots, he was always very quiet, but would pick up on all the gossip in the school, he was Henry’s informant and kept many of his fingers in everyone’s pie’s, not much of a fighter, but had more of a silver tongue; he was then flanked by Patrick Hockstetter, tall and lanky, head of black shoulder length hair, always had a creepy smile on his face, definitely the weirdest guy in the gang, might become a future murderer according to some. They did what they wanted to whoever was around and they liked picking on anyone who was different or whomever they thought was weak, they usually picked on younger kids.

Bill could hear the gang making threats and laughing to themselves, asking girls disgusting questions and just being vulgar.

The sound of the bell ringing broke Bill and his friends from their trance. Bill and Stanley quickly made their way over to their 1st period class.

“I hope we steer clear of them this year.” Eddie said to himself.

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen, Eds.” Replied Richie, watching as Hockstetter turned around to smile creepily at them.

What a way to start freshmen year…  
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Bill sat next to Stanley, watching as the kids started coming in and taking their seats in class. Stanley kept making sideways glances at the new kid, she was wearing a large dark blue sweater, light blue jeans, and had sneakers on her feet. Bill would occasionally sneak a look in her direction but wasn’t able to get a look at her face. Their teacher was asking them to make introductions because they had a new student, she got up and introduced herself as Anzu Kawakami, from Kyoto, Japan but recently moved from Oregon. Her face was calm, and she looked at everyone from where she stood by her desk. Some of the kids greeted her back out of respect, including Bill and Stanley.

Beverly Marsh was running late to class, it looked like her first period was History; as she made her way to home room. She caught a glimpse of Henry Bowers and Greta Keene making out in the hallway next to some lockers, to which Beverly was thankful none belonged to her.

Greta looked away from Henry at Beverly, “What are you looking at, slut?” to which Henry laughed. Beverly kept walking, trying to ignore any further confrontations with either of them. They were both terrible people and this whole town seemed that way to her. Terrible.

Beverly walked into class late as students were introducing themselves and so began the long first day in class.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter took a seat, in their 1st period, in the back of the room for Science, watching everyone who came in.

“Did you see that Chinese looking chick that walked into school this morning?” one of their classmates said to each other. The jocks were already placing bets on who would hit that first, some of the guys thought she was too plain looking. One of the well-to-do jocks perked up with interest, his name was Zeke Swanson, “Shit, I’ll take that bet. Whoever can get her number gets $50 if they do it this week.” He challenged.

“I’ll get her number by the end of today, fucker.” Said another meathead, John Williams who was sitting across from the Swanson kid and they then shook hands taking the bet.

“Sounds promising, Bowers.” Patrick said looking over at Henry, who shrugged his shoulders. Henry hadn’t seen her yet, but he was certainly hearing about her now. He was curious at the very least.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After 5th period had ended Anzu was making her way to the lunchroom, counting the steps as she went. She would do this involuntarily now as it had become part of her training, how many steps would it take to find the exit? Is what her father would sometimes say while they would practice in doors if the weather was too much.

“57 steps before I find myself in the hall and 66 more steps until I was outside.” She said under her breath. It wasn’t the most important part of her training, in her opinion, but her father insisted that she do this. She was a fighter by nature and swords woman by choice, but she was a teenager ultimately and right now she wanted something to eat. After picking up her food, she went in search of a place to sit and eat but found nothing and no one wanted her to sit with them.

The student population had already found out about Anzu Kawakami and many of them didn’t know where to put her. She was different, but she seemed unapproachable. Greta Keene tried to get her to join her group of friends but was bluntly shot down. To which Greta had replied with, “I only asked because you looked depressingly pathetic.” Anzu didn’t respond to her.

Anzu managed to find a spot between the jocks where she wouldn’t bother anyone or be bothered.

Some of them would watch her to see what she was doing and immediately go back to their own conversations.

“So, she’s Japanese?” Richie asked Bill and Stan, before shoving a fork full of spaghetti-o’s in his mouth. Eddie watched him chew his food in disgust, “Would you close your dirty mouth please?” he complained. Richie just exaggerated his chewing even more; Stanley made a disgusted look as he got a glimpse of what Richie was eating.

Not missing a beat, Bill responded, “Her l-l-last name is K-Kawakami, s-s-so yeah.”

“Well, Jap girl is sitting by herself over there.” Richie pointed out, to where the new girl was sitting.

“What? You guys want her to sit with us?” Stanley responded after several seconds of no one talking. Suddenly Bill stood up and began walking in her direction; the rest of his friends were silent and watched what would happen next. Neither of them could believe stuttering Bill was doing what they all thought of doing.

The Bowers gang had just walked into the lunchroom to bother some poor souls; Belch and Victor began making their way to the lunch line while Patrick and Henry stayed behind to observe the room. Patrick nudged Henry’s arm, “Look.” Henry didn’t have to look long before he spotted stuttering Bill and that Chinese girl everyone was talking about; He’d only seen the back of the girl’s head so far and this time was no different. Bill was facing him and talking down from where the chink was sitting, he leaned over to Patrick saying, “Later, not here.” Patrick felt a jolt of excitement at Henry’s order, he couldn’t wait for later.

“Let’s do it now, man.” He replied strolling after Henry and the others.

Henry wanted a good look at the girl’s face, just to see what she’d look like; he hated how at every turn she always seemed to look away from him.

After they got their food the older boys went to have a seat on one side of the cafeteria, when Keene joined them and sat next to Henry.

“The new bitch is a bitch.” He heard Greta say to him just as he was sitting down, he broke his stare to look at his “Girlfriend”, who had come to sit with him.

“Yeah? What kind of bitch is she?” Patrick asked with some interest, he hadn’t been able to get a good look at the girl either.

“Ugh! She’s so plain. etc., etc., etc.…” she began her rant, and everyone tuned her out, Henry just wanted to stab himself in the ears. He knew he was going to regret hooking up with Greta, he just needed her so he could occupy his time until someone else came along.

Henry got up out of frustration and managed to see her face for the first time.

Her eyes were slanted and dark, her lips were a bit small and they were a light pink, skin was light, she had a round face, which was framed by thick long jet black hair, the strands of hair loosely hugged her child like face.

It took him a few seconds to get a decent once over of her figure, but it was hidden by her baggy clothes. All he could see were her toned legs, but nothing much going up her thighs; she wore a big patterned dark blue sweater with what looked like flowers on them.

To him she looked more than plain, but she was moving to sit with stuttering Bill and his band of losers. It wouldn’t matter because Patrick wanted a go at her, he always wanted a go, and he said to himself once that he would only date white girls. There was a slight tingle in his ear when he thought of it, but at least he knows what she looks like now and she looked more than plain.

Anzu felt someone’s gaze upon her; she was an oddity of course people were going to stare at her, so she paid no mind.

Bill, Anzu’s classmate from home room, had extended an offer for her to sit with him and his friends to which she agreed. They talked about outdoor activities, board games, TV shows, etc. Bill had brought her over, so she wasn’t lonely, but was happy to find himself distracted by their conversation. She liked playing tag and she owned a bike although she said it was new. Stanley, getting over his nervousness of girls, asked if she wanted to go biking after school with them. However, she turned him down saying she had to do a job for her dad after school and they exchanged numbers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The bell rang and it was time go to 6th period, Anzu had gym and was glad she didn’t eat a whole lot.

After finding a secluded spot in the girl’s locker room, inside a bathroom stall Anzu began changing into her gym clothes. Hearing approaching footsteps enter the bathroom, voices emerged as the door opened revealing to be some girls from Anzu assumed would be in her gym class and then very quickly to be joined by another voice, Greta. She begins complaining that Henry really hasn’t been paying too much attention to her lately and it might be time to split up with him.

Anzu chose at that moment to walk out of the stall and everything seemed to get quite and then Greta spoke, “Were you eaves dropping on us, Jap girl?” Anzu simply ignored them and walked out of the bathroom, left her things inside her locker and took off for gym class.

There Anzu met Ben Hanscom and they became fast friends, shooting hoops together, Anzu making most of the hoops than Ben. Unbeknownst to them, they or mostly Anzu were being watched by Henry and Patrick; they just so happened to be there in the same class. They watched as the coach asked Anzu to play with some of the basketball girls, she was good and agile. Patrick made a comment about her being flexible and Henry just grunted as response. She was prettier than Greta that was for sure, but she kind of seemed hard to approach she didn’t look the type to scare easily, but he was sure he and the boys could think of something.

She was fast on the court, zipping past girls, maneuvering the ball anywhere she pleased, most of the girls could barely keep up; Anzu played well with her team mates and by the end of gym class the coach was seriously offering to place Anzu on the team. She said she’d bring it up with her folks, but she felt that would interrupt her actual martial arts training; Ben came up to high five her and they began to talk animatedly about other random things after they were dismissed from gym class.

Patrick’s control slipped a bit as he wolf whistled at Anzu as she and Ben walked passed, but he was ultimately ignored. Anzu and Ben had to split up and go their separate ways into the locker rooms. Henry and Patrick quickly followed Ben into the boy’s locker rooms.

“So fat boy, think that chink is your fuckin’ girlfriend now, huh?” Patrick quickly wrapped his right arm around Ben’s neck while Henry stood in front of them with a wild smirk on his face. Ben wished he really wasn’t alone right now and began looking for a way out, but his attention was brought back to Henry when he slapped his face hard making Ben see double for a few seconds. “Answer the question you fucking pig; think she’s your little girlfriend?” Henry questioned, Ben looked him in the eye’s, “We’re just friends.” Earning him another slap to the face and Patrick shoving him into the lockers, making sure Ben hit headfirst against them before he fell to his knees.

Patrick looked down at Ben, “I’m saving her for me, tits.” He said darkly and then got down to Ben’s level almost whispering in his ear, “I hear chink pussy is a delicacy.” Ben’s stomach dropped and he felt only rage, but before he could act on it, they had taken off. So, the moment he was surely alone he quickly got dressed and went looking for Anzu to at the very least warn her, luckily, she was waiting for him outside the gym.

“What happened to your forehead, Ben?” Anzu rushed over to him and Ben tried to play it off, but as if on cue Hockstetter and Bowers emerged from the other side of the gym with wide smiles as they noticed Anzu and Ben. Anzu had a feeling it was them, but Ben confirmed it for her and acknowledged that is was. She eyed them as they made their way back to the main building, both boys watching for a time as well and then continuing their path.

“I would stir clear of them Anzu, they seem dangerous.” Warned Ben and she nodded understanding and her fists began to tighten thinking about what they must have done to hurt Ben. He warned Anzu of what the taller boy said his plans for her were; she felt disgusted and angered after hearing this.

Her father’s words echoing in her head, telling her to be vigilant and aware of her surroundings.

The walk back to the main building was quiet, but Ben broke the silence when he invited her to hang out sometime and she agreed. Ben and Anzu confirmed that they had the next class period together, but he had forgotten something from his locker and took off to go get it. Anzu was looking out for those boys now, she had remembered Bill saying they were the Bowers gang and the dirty blond one was called Henry. She now started looking for Bill, Eddie, Richie, and Stanley in the hall when she suddenly heard a wolf whistle. She began remembering that it was creepy tall one and that the other boys were not far behind.

Eddie and Richie were moving about the halls as they met up with Bill and Stanley, they all noticed Anzu and began waving her over, but stopped when they noticed the Bowers gang walking closely behind her. They could see Anzu slow her walking pace to see if they could pass her up, but they circled around her. Bill and the others began freaking out and started devising a plan to help her get out of this situation.

“Maybe one of us could fake a heart attack.” Richie suggested.

“Are you stupid? We run over and shout that Henry has a knife!” whispered Eddie.

Bill interjected saying, “W-We c-could fake that a t-t-teacher has t-t-to speak to h-her a-about something.”

“We could get a teacher to call her over.” Stanley offered and the boys ran off to find the nearest instructor.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Anzu slowed down hoping that they would pass her, but they surrounded her, she looked up and was sure the make eye contact with each boy. “What’s a chink like you doing in this school, baby?” she heard the tall creepy boy say on her right, the dirty blond boy moved over to her left with two other boys she had noticed flanking her from behind.

Henry had a smile on his face, but when Anzu looked around to asses her situation he only chuckled and said, “Yeah sweet cheeks, your surrounded.” Anzu looked at him defiantly, he was a little stunned by her sudden disregard for his existence.

He suddenly heard her speak, “You Henry Bowers?” she asked him, ignoring Patrick once again, which seemed to piss off the tall lanky teen, and he growled as he moved closer to her. “Yeah that’s me, what’s it to you c- “he was suddenly cut off by Anzu getting in his face, which he had flashbacks of his dad doing, “Leave my friends and I alone, Bowers.”

“What’s going on?” asked an approaching teacher, Anzu saw where the teacher was coming from and past them, she could see Bill and others waving her over frantically, she took her chance and sped off past the teacher. Bowers watched her take off like a shot, he could smell her as she passed; he had never smelled anything like that scent before and he suddenly became very angry remembering what she had just done in his face. “That fucking bitch.” He could hear Patrick say as the teacher began questioning them.

Henry wanted to get back at her for getting in his face now and making him look like a fool, but at the same time her fragrance really caught him off guard.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Holy shit, Anzu, that was close.” Richie said slinging his arm around Anzu’s shoulder. Stanley patted her back, “What did you tell Bowers?” he asked as they all began walking to their 7th period class, Anzu smiled shaking her head, “I only asked what his name was and for him to leave us alone.” She shared this with the boys as they all had a seat together in Math class. “Damn, him and his goons are probably going to come after us even harder.” Eddie remarked taking out a water bottle and a pill from his fanny pack before quickly consuming them. Ben walked into that class a few minutes later with Anzu waving him over and everyone was introduced.

“So, we got the new kid and the new new kid.” Richie stated watching Anzu and Ben and making funny faces at them. The rest of 7th period went smoothly for her; it was then that the bell rang and they all parted ways for 8th period.

Anzu found her way to Arts and Crafts class, which she was excited about. The classroom was open and had large tables where the students could sit and work. Once the class had started, she had taken a seat and wanted for instruction.

“You’re gonna pay for what you did, Chink.”


	2. The Curtain Rises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is up, please enjoy.

“You’re gonna pay for what you did, Chink.” The familiar voice of Henry Bowers came from behind Anzu. She turned around and saw that Henry was sitting at a table behind her and from what she could gather by all the torn sheets of paper that he was pissed. “So, I’m going to have to pay for wanting you and your friends to leave us alone? What did I or they ever do to you?” she asked.

  
“You and your faggot friends are weak and don’t have place in my town.” Spat Henry. Anzu raised an eyebrow, “This is barely my first day and I hardly know you except for your name. As far as I’m aware you’re just being rude for no reason and this isn’t just your town so get off your high horse. Oh, by the way, I’m Japanese you jerk.” Anzu fired back and then he suddenly lost his cool, “FUCK YOU, YOU GOD DAMN GREASY JAP!” Anzu looked back at him unimpressed and moved herself to another table.

  
The teacher was already on him and sending him to the office with a referral. Anzu later joined him in the office and sat a chair away from him.

  
“So, what now you’re in trouble too?” he mumbled.

  
“Just giving my side of the story.” Was all she said before the principle called in Bowers and Anzu got called in by the counselor.

  
Anzu had to sit there and get lectured for talking back to Bowers. He was being a racist and she was getting lectured about being a nice quiet girl, she did find out that his dad was a police officer. After a while Anzu simply got up and said, “If you won’t help me, then I’ll help myself. How dare you call yourself a guidance counselor.” Her choice of words stunned the counselor as Anzu made her way out of her office.

* * *

  
Anzu walked out of the school to find her dad parked out in front and waiting for her, he had a knowing smile on his face. “I heard you’ve been making friends and enemies today, watashi no kodomo.” Anzu got into the car and sighed heavily. “His dad is a police officer and he only got a slap on the wrist from what I heard.” Anzu had the thousand-yard stare as she looked a head. “Then we should continue your training in that case.” He stated and she nodded as they pulled out of the parking lot.

  
There was a blue trans-am still in the parking lot where the Bowers gang was sat and observed Anzu and her father drive away. Henry was furious as he saw them take off, “I’m going to fucking make her pay.”

  
That night Henry had been knocked around by Butch Bowers, his father, for having to be called in to his son’s school while he was on duty.

  
“You fuckin’ bitch! You think I want to get called in to your goddamned school on the first day just cuz you cussed out a fuckin’ Jap girl?” he shouted as he slapped Henry across the face; Henry tried blocking his slap, but his father was too strong.

  
“I-I’m sorry dad-“he tried apologizing, but was cut off again by his dad hitting him but with his belt this time. Henry curled up into a ball while his dad kept hitting his body with the belt, the buckle cutting into his flesh. Henry cried as this continued and after what seemed like forever, he got up and began running towards his room with his father running after him.

  
Henry having escaped to the bathroom and his dad yelling at him from the other side of the door. Henry was now trying to clean up his new fresh wounds; Everything that was happening to him was because of her. The rage he felt inside. He linked it back to the Kawakami girl with whom he wanted revenge against.

  
“IF YOU DON’T MAN UP AND COME OUT HERE, I’LL BREAK DOWN THIS MOTHER FUCKIN’ DOOR, COME OUT PUSSY!” he heard his father yelling again, Henry shook violently as his father was calling him out then begrudgingly opened the door and let the inevitable happen. Butch grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, “If I ever have to receive another call from your school again, for any reason. You. Will. Pay.” He said shoving his son down the hallway towards his room. Henry darted away, closing the door behind him, frightened.

  
Finally making it back over to his room, he fixed up his wounds before painfully laying down on his bed, His mind wandered back to her and he did wonder why he was so fixated on harming her. In all honesty, she truly did nothing wrong, but he couldn’t control how he acted when she was around. Henry felt emasculated by her bravery and felt it only necessary to verbally attack her.

  
Deep down he had no other way to express how truly nervous she made him feel.

  
__________________________________(Earlier that day) _____________________________________  
“Its best that they never talk, Mr. Bowers, and I hope this isn’t the example you give your son at home.” Retorted Mr. Kawakami; now looking at the officer, as if daring him to reveal his true colors on purpose.

  
“I agree with you, but Mr. Kawakami, with all due respect leave what I teach my son out of your business. He ought to be getting it from somewhere else.” Officer Bowers gave Mr. Kawakami a hard look before dipping his head in a self-dismissive manner and turned to leave; Mr. Kawakami watched as he left the room and grabbed his son by the back of the neck roughly and they took off.

  
What Mr. Kawakami gleaned from that conversation was that Officer Bowers seemed rough with his son and there was more going on with them.

* * *

  
Somewhere across town, Anzu was getting hit as well. However, she then deflected the next hit her father aimed at her. He worried about his daughter being unable to defend herself or anyone else and for every day after school she would train with him. Mr. Kawakami, a Japanese man in his forties whom his daughter had inherited his jet black hair, was putting his daughter through her paces, after having a conversation with the boy’s father, Officer Bowers; they both agreed that their children were never allowed to interact with each other.

  
Mrs. Kawakami, a warm and stern woman of Japanese descent with brown hair and light skin, asked if perhaps he might be pushing her too hard, but he explained that situation and how he knows he can’t protect her all the time.

  
Anzu and Henry were instructed by their fathers to stay away from each other, but the flimsy warning would only last so long as the year went on. Over time, Anzu became better friends with Bill and the others while the Bowers gang tended to leave only Anzu and Bill alone on Henry’s orders, his excuse was that he would give Bill a free pass this year because of his little brother and because Anzu was Bill’s friend by association.

* * *

  
The second day of school, Anzu met Beverly Marsh in art class and they began talking as the week went on and found that she was also a target of Bowers bullying as well. During their conversations, Anzu discovered that Beverly liked being outside and that she liked to explore the woods and that she owned a slingshot. Anzu was glad that she wasn’t the only one who proficient is using a weapon, she asked Beverly to show off her skills sometime and she agreed. In art class, Beverly was fairly good at drawing while Anzu struggled, but with Bev’s help she was able get in some practice.

  
As the first week continued, Anzu found out about Bill’s missing brother, Georgie, and agreed to help him look even though she knew he was probably dead. Not only did she have to look out for her new friends now, but she was keeping an eye out for the Bowers gang and vice versa. Eddie and Richie told her about which one was which, pointing them out to her in the lunch room. Now Anzu had the names to the faces that surrounded her the first day, she would do her best to remember this.

  
To her peers, she was kind, fair, quick with a comeback, and she was light on her feet. As the second week rolled around, Anzu Kawakami had become somewhat of a mystery to her classmates, usually preferring to keep to herself and her selective group of friends. To her friends, she was smart and freakishly perceptive, noticing how she caught little details or they would hear her counting to herself as she would walk. When Eddie asked her why she would always count as she walked, Anzu had said she always needed to know how far away her exits were. Stanley asked if she was religious, she explained that her family loosely believed in Shintoism, but they weren’t exclusively attached to the belief. The boys asked her questions about what it was like growing up in another part of the world, what her food was like and if her family still makes it. She offered to bring some with her next time to share; she described what kind of food her parents made. Bill expressed interest in trying some of her families food, Anzu would set aside the time to make something for her new friends.

  
Although her family had been living in America for about five years since they left Japan, her and her parents loosely practiced traditional Shinto customs such as praying on certain days at the family alter inside their living room and making fortunes then placing them on their backyard fence. Being away from home almost felt like her family was out of the loop, but it would be a while before things were able to calm down and if fortune was on her family’s side they would be able to go back soon. When she thought about the past, Anzu always blamed herself even if her parents said it wasn’t ever her fault. It happened that the situation she was in was completely out of her control, her father always reminded her of this, but Anzu felt that she was at fault deep down. In her mind, she was the reason that her little family had to leave, Kyoto.

  
Anzu would excel in school and not fall in with the wrong crowd, believing that’s the least she could do in order to help make things right.

* * *

Bowers laughed when the jocks lost each other’s bets that first week, Kawakami was never alone and avoided them like the plague it seemed. Whenever they would try to talk to her she always had some sort of excuse and was taking off before they could continue.

  
However, Zeke Swanson was a persistent mother fucker and kept trying to get Anzu alone. He was an athlete on the football team with an imposing figure, but many of his teammates liked him and many young ladies always sought his company. Nevertheless, Swanson was a junior running after a freshman like a lost puppy and it seemed that Kawakami took notice because she began really avoiding him. It would seem she wasn’t interested in his advances, but he wasn’t taking the hint.

  
By the third and fourth week of school ,it started bugging Henry just a little, but how can he act so pussy whipped when he ain’t even had her? Bowers wondered why he even cared; she was just some chink and nothing else. He felt that this was none of his business, but whenever he was in the halls he’d see Swanson trying to talk to Kawakami would watch how she’d quickly brush him off; he’d have a sudden sense of relief whenever she successfully avoided him.

  
Bowers did notice Patrick take more of an interest in Kawakami though, he’d catch Hockstetter following Kawakami to her next class or staring at her during gym or during passing periods. This also didn’t sit well with him, but Vic suggested that things would blow over towards the end of the month and Belch suggested maybe even trying to talk to Kawakami at which point Henry just flat out said “No.”.

  
Henry wouldn’t admit to himself that he was curious about her too, there was more to her and he couldn’t help being attracted to that. However, he couldn’t get around how baggy her clothes were, all her shirts, sweaters, and even jeans on occasion were oversized. He never even saw her wearing a dress, but there he was checking her out in the baggy basketball shorts she was wearing for gym. The fact of the matter was, he wanted something to look at, but she wasn’t showing off anything and yet he still wasn’t sure why he kept looking for her throughout these last four weeks. There were times when Henry would take quick glances of Anzu in art class; she was always sitting with Beverly Marsh now. He recognized that he sort of drove her away, but in his mind he felt justified because she was showing him up and trying to make him look weak in front of his friends and everyone else.

* * *

  
‘Why am I fucking thinking about her right now?’ He thought to himself one night while he was out having a smoke with his friends in Belch’s car.

  
The gang was hanging out at the quarry, smoking, they were all sitting in the car with some low rock music playing on the radio. The car smelled like marijuana, but they were airing it out after hot boxing for almost an hour; “Why are the girls so uptight?” Belch asked suddenly, the back of his head relaxing against the car seat. “Cuz they ain’t found something to make’em wet.” Hockstetter answered back smoothly grabbing at his crotch. The boys laughed, “Ok, ok, who’s the most uptight chick though?” Vic asked looking out the window of the car up at the night sky. “It’s that Kawakami chick, for sure. She’s blue balling them fuckin’ jocks; Swanson really wants to fuck her.” Henry said without missing a beat, “Yeah, I’ve heard he’s tried asking her out to parties and shit, she just tells him she works after school for her family.” Vic confirmed his story. “Ugh, she needs to get her head out of her ass; I bet she’s not doing shit after school!” Patrick raised his voice. “Do you think she’s pretty; maybe she’s a good lay and no one knows?” Belch asked yet another weird question and Henry groaned softy ‘What if she was great in bed?’ now he’d never know because he was being ‘Rude’ according to her. “I’ll tell you guys about it after I’ve had her first or maybe we could share her.” Announced Patrick, taking another drag and holding in his exhale, “It’s hard to tell with her baggy ass clothes, maybe she’s flat everywhere?” Vic offered earning around of agreeing grunts.

  
“No one mess with her, I’m claiming her.” Henry said into the silence and everyone seemed to stop breathing in that moment.

  
He reminded himself that he could have anyone after he and Greta broke things off and in some fucked up way, he wanted Kawakami next. She certainly wasn’t afraid of him and that really got him going, but he would sooner die then to share that with anyone. Also, the fact that his father forbade him was like a challenge to go right ahead, but quickly realized he was in competition with Hockstetter now.

  
“Wait, you’re fucking claiming her? I was just about to.” Patrick whined and Henry turned to look at him quickly. “Did I fucking stutter? I’m saying she’s mine now, she fucking ignores you’re ass any ways. You can have her once I’m done.” He fired back keeping eye contact with Patrick and there was a very charged silence.

  
“I wanted her first, Bowers, I saw her first.” Hockstetter challenged, it seemed like there was no sound in the car.

  
“Too bad, I claimed her first, do you want me to fucking remind you who’s in charge? Know your place, Hockstetter.” Henry warned never breaking eye contact with Patrick. It wasn’t until Belch sneezed that the tension eased in the car, Henry instructed Huggins to start the car and to drop everyone off and all the way home Patrick began sharing what his plans were for Kawakami. Patrick submissively offered Henry a temporary partnership to just get Kawakami alone to start and Henry agreed tensely.

For some reason, Patrick’s plans fucking grossed him out this time around, he felt that it must have been because those plans involved Kawakami and in the worst possible way. Right from the start Belch backed out claiming, “My ass ain’t going to fuckin’ jail, you sick fucker.” Victor promptly declined too, saying he was straight up not interested. However, Henry felt like he had to stick around to see how things went, but he probably really wanted to see her suffer or he wanted to take her out of this situation, or he wasn’t sure now.

  
“They’re a bunch of pussies, right Bowers?” Patrick stated as he was trying to justify his mindset and the dark thoughts that came out of it.

  
In Henry’s mind he knew that was wrong, but she needed to stop being so…desirable to him and maybe if he ruined her, he wouldn’t want her anymore and she would be just another whore, but something about that lone thought really fucking bothered him…maybe he wanted her for himself… maybe he didn’t want Patrick to hurt her… maybe…

* * *

  
September came and went then October arrived, Anzu was hiding out in the girl’s bathroom with Beverly checking outside of the restroom door for Swanson. “I saw him pass just now; you think you can make a run for it to art?” She looked back at Anzu who was now standing on the sink and opening the latch for the bathroom window, Anzu looked back at her quickly.

  
“I could just climb out this window and be on my way to class, Beverly.” She stated not moving from her position, Beverly chuckled shaking her head.

  
“Get down from there, K. I’ll walk with you and make sure no one gets to you.” She offered, but Anzu only shook her head.

  
“I’m worried about what I’ll do if he tries to make a grab for me again. I can’t risk putting you in the middle of that, He’s creepy-“Marsh cut her off.

“That’s why we gotta stick together, K. Two against one is safer, remember safety in numbers.” Beverly closed the door and began walking over to Anzu reaching her hand out for her to hold. Anzu jumped down from the sink and clasped hands with Marsh, “Ok, but let’s be quick.” Kawakami stated and they both made their way out of the girl’s bathroom and began power walking to their final class. It was quiet for a moment, they hadn’t even noticed that they past Huggins and Bowers before they heard the familiar voice of Swanson.

  
“Hey Anzu, wait up!” he shouted. Which prompted both girls to flat out start running off to their last period, Henry watched as they ran into their art class then he instructed Huggins to get in Swanson’s way. Belch shoulder checked Swanson quickly, throwing the athlete off balance, “Watch it Huggins.” He growled now turning his attention to Belch and then to Henry “Why you gotta be chasing after little girls, wha’ you some kinda pedophile?” Huggins challenged, now getting Zeke’s full attention.

  
“The fuck business is it of yours?” Zeke said back quickly, “You get your boy off my ass, Bowers.”

  
“Or you’ll do what to me, Cuntson, I don’t mind beating the shit out of you here in the fucking hall, unless you want me to.” Henry threatened and Zeke just rolled his eyes already losing interest then started walking back to the main building. He then turned around as Henry and Belch continued walking towards the art building, “You’re not fucking her first; you can have my sloppy seconds, Bowers.” He said confidently with a smirk on his face and watched as Henry slowly turned to look back at him. “You sound pretty confident for a cunt that can’t even get her to talk to you, looked like she was running away from you.” Henry cackled shooting him the middle finger and watching as Swanson shot the middle finger back at him saying, “Shut the fuck up asshole!” before continuing the trek back to the main hall.

  
Belch let Henry get to class before taking off to his, Henry poked his head back out from the door before Belch was out of ear shot. “Don’t let no one fuck around with her unless it’s me, Huggins.” Belch nodded hearing that and continued on his way.

* * *

Anzu was standing near the dry rack looking for her picture when she felt someone’s presence near hers and then they cleared their throat, “I think you owe me something Kawakami, I got rid of Swanson for ya.” Henry’s voice came from behind her, the presence got closer. Anzu’s heart skipped a beat and she had to calm herself down remembering that he was actually a racist jerk, but when she looked over at him he almost looked hopeful which was something she wasn’t expecting. Before she could get a word out he spoke again, “You could give me a kiss as payment.” He said with a wolfish grin on his face, getting into her personal space to which she stepped back.

  
“I don’t like how you’re going to pretend like you didn’t just call me a greasy Jap last month, I’m not going to hold my breath for an apology, I didn’t ask for your help with Swanson, and No I’m not going to kiss you as payment.” She went back to looking for her picture, ignoring him huff in disappointment, but he got into her personal space mainly because he liked the way she smelled.

  
“That’s my apology, baby, I-“he tried talking before she got in his face again, this is what he was waiting for all day.

  
“I’m not your baby and that is not an apology, you should look up human decency before you start making up crap.” She quickly found her picture and started walking off, but he got in her way again.

  
“Well then good luck getting Swanson to leave you alone, I mean I can tell him your my girl-“ she interrupted him again by brushing him off and continued walking past him, he took a deep breath involuntarily smelling her perfume as she passed him.

  
“No.” she stated before going to take her seat next to Beverly.

  
He stood there for a long time willing himself not to have an erection; her attitude, her smell, and the fact that they just had a full on conversation was turning him on which made his body tense up.

  
“It looks like whatever you said really pissed him off, K.” Beverly whispered looking back from Bowers over to Anzu and watching her just shrug at the situation.

  
“Jerk shouldn’t say weird crap to me.” She began working on her drawing as Beverly smiled to herself.  
“Everyone is afraid of those guys except you; I don’t know how you do it, K.” She said as Henry passed them and took his seat a table behind them.

* * *

The next day went on as normal and so Anzu decided to visit the library to work on the rest of her assignment from one of her classes. As she browsed the aisles looking for the book she needed, her eyes happened to cross that of blue eyes from the aisle of books across from hers. It startled her with how quickly this person’s eyes appeared seemingly out of nowhere, she worried for a moment that it was Zeke’s eye’s but couldn’t remember. When she looked back through the tops of the books across the aisle, the blue eyes were gone, but she heard someone cough at the end of the aisle on her right. There she saw Henry leaning up against the stacks of books with an odd look on his face, like he was remembering something fondly.

  
Henry was able to catch her off guard and she looked so innocent when she thought no one was watching her, he had been at the library skipping class because it was cold outside and noticed her walk in. He watched her for some time making mental notes about her appearance; how the light from the window bounced off the top of her head and how it hit the back of her neck where it was exposed to the light, how her eye’s seemed intensely focused on the book she was reading and how her little pink lips were parted as she read to herself, she wore a shorter looking shirt today and he could see more of her legs and part of her butt. He wondered why she was keeping her figure a secret and could only imagine what she was hiding from everyone, and then she noticed him once he got closer from across the aisle.

“Did I scare ya?” he asked with a hint of a chuckle, he walked closer to her and saw her tense up slightly.

  
“I didn’t think I was being so closely watched, what is it that you want Bowers?” she questioned skeptically, holding the book at her side.

  
She watched him carefully; he leaned back against the aisle of books with his hands folded over his chest.

  
“Bored, Decided to cut class and hangout here for a bit, but I feel like you’re more interesting to talk to. So why don’t you come closer and maybe you could read that book to me, I won’t bite too hard.” He tried with a sly grin on his face while he looked to her waiting for her reaction. Wasn’t he supposed to be getting his revenge on her? He was fucking trying to flirt right now. It just seemed so easy to talk to her when it was only the two of them and with no one else around to hear their conversation, too.

  
She simply shook her head and stated plainly, “No, I’d rather not. Unlike you I’m trying to pass my classes and have a future for myself.” She looked back and opened her book now facing away from him.

  
Henry stalked closer to her and got in her personal space, “Maybe I need help with my classes, baby-“

  
She cut him off, “I’m not your baby, go ask for a tutor and maybe you’ll get somewhere.” She brushed him off, but he quickly took the book from her hands, to which she let him take it, she was not in the mood to fight him today. “What if I want you to tutor me? My old man says a woman is always supposed to help the man, whenever he asks her for somethin.” He said as he held the book away from her and waited for her to jump for it, but she simply stood there looking at him with an unimpressed expression.

  
“I don’t have time for this, Bowers. Give me the book back please.” She asked sternly, but he only got in her face. “Kiss me and I’ll give it back to you, Kawakami.” He said getting closer and she could smell his breath which happened to be fruity in some odd way. Anzu stepped back and began to walk away, but Bowers caught her arm and made her turn around to face him, she jerked her arm out of his grasp quickly. “Don’t touch me.” She said quietly never breaking eye contact with him; that look was familiar to him and so he quickly let go. He shoved the book back in her hands and stormed off, “Fucking loser.” Was all she heard him say under his breath before he took off.

  
Anzu stood there in the aisle confused as to what just happened, but quickly brushed it off and went back to her work; she wouldn’t let him distract her.

  
He was beating himself up about touching her, not only just touching her, but how forcefully he grabbed her and how she reacted to it. He recognized her reaction as his own when his father would try to grab him too. Henry didn’t mean to call her a fucking loser, but that was his reaction if things didn’t go his way. In truth, he was unknowingly starting to look for her, not just in the library, but in the halls now. To him he thought he was buttering her up, but it was deeper than that. He found himself in the boys restroom, he ran his hands through his hair thinking about how he can approach her now without having to touch her roughly, like how his dad treats him, in his head he wanted to hurt her, but his heart wanted to not have him touch her in anger. No, he wanted to make her feel things for him before he hurt her, but was it ok for him to start feeling things as well?

  
‘You’re fucking weak, Henry.” A voice sounding much like his father’s suddenly rang in his head.

  
He walked into a stall and took off his shirt, bunched it up and with tears starting to fall from his eyes he screamed into the shirt. He shook violently as he was so conflicted with himself, thankfully no one walked into the restroom in that moment and he was able to clean himself up quickly and left.

  
He thought about going back and seriously apologizing, but then he saw Anzu step out of the Library entrance and suddenly be approached by Zeke and his heart almost dropped, but she looked like she wanted to avoid him.

  
Anzu was about to take off to her next class, when she ran into Swanson at the door, she mentally cringed when she saw his face light up and he smiled down at her.

  
“Hey Anzu, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out with me? We could catch a movie or go to the park?” he asked quickly as he immediately started moving into her space.

  
‘Ok, what is it with people getting in my space?’ she thought, defiantly taking a few steps back. ‘First, Bowers and now this guy.’

  
“I’m busy-“ she started saying but Zeke cut her off suddenly, “See, you always say that and I’m thinking it’s not cool to leave a guy, whose interested in you, hanging. Maybe you wanna give me a chance? I’m a really nice guy.” That was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Anzu and Henry, who happened to be near by listening.

  
Anzu narrowed her eyes at him, “Then maybe you should take yourself out on a date, Swanson because I’m not interested. I’ve been nice and polite and I’ve said no many times and that is what I mean, No! It’s not suddenly going to be yes, I’m busy and I’m not interested in you, have a good day.” She took off, but Zeke was right behind her and trying to reach for her, but she anticipated him and moved out of the way.

  
Henry lost it when he tried grabbing her for a second time and came running at him to push him away from Kawakami, neither Zeke nor Anzu were expecting Bowers to show up. Henry wasn’t sure why he did it either, but he moved in front of her putting himself between the two.

  
“She fucking told you she ain’t interested, drop it and move on to someone else.” Was all he said and then said over his shoulder, “You better move your ass outta here Kawakami.”

  
Zeke looked furious but was interrupted when a passing teacher caught the three of them in the hall, “Excuse me, but where are the three of you supposed to be?” the teacher began making his way over to them. Anzu spoke up first moving in front of Bowers, who was taken aback by her forwardness.

  
“I was sent to get Bowers from the Library by our teacher, I don’t know what Swanson was doing out here, Sir.” She gestured to Swanson who looked at her incredulously and the teacher told Anzu and Henry to get back to class, while he had a word with the furious athlete.

  
Henry walked with Anzu for a good few minutes; he looked at her every now and then, but his mind was exploding ‘She just lied to help me get out of trouble! Should I be thanking her? What the fuck do I do?’ he mind was going blank on what to say.

  
Anzu, filled with too much adrenaline to talk, stopped once they were out of the earshot; she turned to Henry, nodded and said “later.” She then took off to her next class. Henry just watched her leave in amazement no one outside his group of friends had ever done such a thing for him; he shook off the weird feeling he was experiencing and walked back to class.

* * *

  
Anzu found her next period before the bell rang and waited outside; Eddie, Richie, Stanley, and Bill showed up when the bell rang to switch.

  
“Hey Anzu, you ok?” Stanley questioned and the rest of the boys stopped to see what was happening. Anzu shook her head smiling, “I’m fine guys, just had a run in Swanson.” She finished picking up her bags as the students from the previous class began filing out.

  
“He’s kind of creepy, right?” Eddie asked making at gross face, Anzu agreed.

  
“D-don’t let h-h-him g-g-get to you, ok?” Bill came up and placed a hand on her shoulder giving her a reassuring squeeze. “I-I-If y-y-you want h-help, j-j-just let us k-n-now.” He offered with a humble smile.

  
“Yeah we’ll kick some ass for you, you just gotta let me at’em and I’ll give’em the ole one, two!” Richie moved his arms in a fisty cuffs motion, making Anzu giggle. “Thanks, but I don’t think you wanna get involved.” She warned as the group went to go take their seats.

  
The rest of the day was uneventful; Bowers and Hockstetter even left Anzu and Ben alone during gym class to which the two were actually able to play a decent game of basketball. Bowers just wanted to think about what happened outside the library while he and Patrick were sat on the bleachers, Patrick creepily watching Anzu and Ben. Henry would catch Anzu looking over at him from time to time, but would look away once he noticed her. He had never felt this feeling in his life and didn’t know how to deal with this, in his head he thought it made him feel weak and that he should have been the man; he should have fought Swanson, left him a bloody mess for even thinking to take what was his.

  
‘Mine?’ he thought, looking at the ground, his eyes becoming blurry. All he knew what that something would have happened to her had he not done something.

  
‘She ain’t even yours, you fuckin’ idiot.’ He heard his dad’s voice in his head degrade him, ‘You’re pussy whipped.’ He heard him say disgustedly.

  
‘She needed my help, I wanted to…’ Henry’s train of thought was interrupted when Greta came over and sat with him.

  
“I miss you, Hen.” She slid up next to him, laying her hand on his arm touching his bicep. Henry inwardly groaned and just so happened to look over at Anzu in time for their eye’s to meet again.

  
Anzu saw Greta sit down with Henry and had a sudden burst of jealousy surge through her body, when their eyes met, she quickly looked away. ‘What do I have to be jealous for?’ she questioned herself, calmly tossing the ball over to Ben who tried to make it into the hoop. Anzu trained herself to look away from Henry so she wouldn’t let him see her disappointment, but she remembered that she would have him for her last class.

  
‘What was happening? Were they kind of friends? Did they even like each other?’ she then snapped herself out of her sad stupor and realized that nothing had been said yet and that she should move on from it. All she had done was a simple favor, which she shouldn’t have. Anzu would leave it at that, nothing more can be done, and her life shouldn’t stop for one person who surely wasn’t worth the trouble, right?

  
He was racist, Kawakami thought.

* * *

Meanwhile on the bleachers.

  
Greta leaned her head on to Henry’s shoulder, caressing his arm she was touching before. “I know I shouldn’t have broke things off in the first place, but I think I needed a bit of freedom and I want to come back to you now.” She began rambling about how they’re perfect for each other and how she had plans for their future. Henry was drowning her out; he swore once he turned her down, he’d seriously consider pursuing Kawakami after this.

  
“Nah, I’m not into it anymore.” He said it loud enough for only her to hear and she stood up quickly and stormed off. “Asshole.” She said boisterously so others could hear, and Patrick laughed as he watched this. Henry felt that a weight was lifted off his shoulders as he sat back against the bleachers, he would watch Anzu play ball with Hanscom.

* * *

Once the bell rang and the day continued, Anzu and Ben went their own way just as Henry and Patrick went on theirs.

  
Anzu was the first to arrive in art class and she began making her way over to one of the cabinets where she could find her drawing, she could hear the door to the classroom open and close. It was then that she felt the same presence near her, it felt familiar and it belonged to Bowers for sure. She gradually turned around and saw that Henry was deliberately walking towards her at a slow stride with his head down and his eyes possibly staring at the floor until he got in her personal space and was almost face to face with her; once he was directly in front of her his gaze met hers and he held eye contact. The moment was intense with the way his eyes stayed on hers; Anzu was thrown for a loop, she had never encountered anything like this before and stood there stunned watching him. She clasped her hands together, but her eyes could not look away as her breath began to quicken. He looked at her like he had never experienced whatever it was he was feeling before; in his heart, he wanted to kiss her deeply.

  
“I’m sorry about before. Also, I don’t need your help getting out of trouble; a man never has to ask for a woman’s help with anything.” He said quietly looking down at her, he was only a foot taller than this girl, but what she had done for him he felt like he didn’t deserve it.

  
“You’re apologizing for-“she couldn’t finish before he interrupted her.

  
“Calling you a god damned greasy Jap.” He countered, keeping his proximity. “I can handle myself, Kawakami.” He said getting closer, his brain was firing off so many signals for him to just fucking kiss her, but he held back for her sake. She had already been the target of Swanson’s unwelcome affections, he fought with himself to leave her to her own decisions, but his head was screaming at him to dominate her now.

  
This time Anzu didn’t move with their forms inches apart. “I accept your apology and about the trouble you were almost in, think of that as my thank you.” She said as she stepped around him with her drawing in hand and began to make her way to her seat. Beverly and the rest of the class began arriving to class and the instructor started shortly after.

  
Over the course of several days, Anzu slowly began to tell Beverly what had happened between her and Bowers. At first, Beverly was grossed out, but then things started making sense as to Bowers odd behavior with them in art class.

  
The odd behavior being him only asking Kawakami if she had any drawings he missed from when he skipped class, she’d allow him to look at her drawing book before going back to his seat, and sometimes he’d ask Anzu to borrow a pencil as well.

  
“Holy shit wait does that mean he ...likes you?” questioned Bev when they walked over to sharpen their pencils, far away enough so Bowers couldn’t hear.

  
“I don’t know what to think.” Anzu wondered deeply. Beverly looked at her and her eyes brightened with the realization.

  
“Do you like him?” she asked a little quieter now, almost whispering in her ear. Anzu sucked in her breath at the thought of her liking him.

  
“I can’t tell, Bev.” She asked the red head, looking truly lost.

  
Beverly quickly put her pencil down and asked if she could place her hands on Anzu’s shoulders. Anzu nodded and Beverly did so gently.

  
“Ok, do you find yourself thinking about him a lot? Maybe even hoping to catch his eye in the hall or any other classes you guys might have together?” She asked seriously, looking Anzu in the eye.

Anzu squirmed and nodded quietly; Beverly nodded understanding her friend now.

  
“Anzu, I don’t want him taking advantage of you. I don’t think you should pursue this.” Beverly warned and Anzu nodded knowing full well what sort of havoc that would entail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	3. Frustrations and the wrong words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is up, thank you and enjoy.

As October went on, Bowers would have short conversations with Kawakami about anything just so he could talk to her. Their awkward conversations usually comprised of music, how anything she listened to paled in comparison to what he had to show her , Henry’s lack of interest in reading, Henry trying to offer Anzu a kiss in exchange for favors and Anzu turning him down awkwardly, Henry standing very close in Anzu’s personal space while she did work, Anzu talking to him about personal space.

Henry mostly kept looking for Anzu every opportunity he got, she was different, and he found her interesting. She hadn’t been mean to him and no longer dismissed him whenever he came around to talk to her. He figured that if he did this enough, she’d be able to talk to him more.

He was still a bully and terrorized the rest of the student population with his friends, but he hadn’t bothered the losers as much. Anzu still kept her eye on him when his friends were all together, but there was only ever a heavy stare down when they switched classes. Henry acted tough in front of his friends to save face, but Anzu knew he would look for her in the library when he could find the time and when his friends weren’t around. She was becoming used to these meetings in the library, he would joke about reading being dumb and Anzu would ask if he does read then Henry became defensive. In reality, Henry didn’t know how to read all that well, but he wasn’t going to share any of this with anyone. Anzu came to the conclusion that he might not be able to read and offered to help him, but he became offended and angrily told her “No” then left; he came back to talk to her the next day.

Huggins would ask if Bowers made any progress with Kawakami, Henry would reply that it takes time to which his friend asked if he was serious about her; He wasn’t sure how to respond, but he didn’t want to change for her  
.  
However, he was starting to like being around her the more he saw her at the library. 

There was the temptation to sit with her in art class, he was kind of regretting being ugly to her now; looking for her during lunch was out of the question, too many people could judge him for being a phony because he was into the only Japanese girl in school.

‘Who gives a shit if they judge you? You would have Kawakami as your girl, you could kiss her in front of everyone or not, take her out for a drive when Belch lends you the car, you could kiss her in private, make out with her, hold her hand, have sex for the first time, have more sex afterwards.’ His mind began to wander to the dangerous and what seemed like an impossible future, being with her for longer than high school.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
The next morning, Anzu found herself walking in early and making her way over to her locker. While she was struggling with the lock as usual Anzu heard the sound of heavy footsteps making their way down the hall. She quickly looked to see who it had been and noticed the figure standing down the hall a few yards away from her, the silhouette was that of Patrick Hockstetter. 

“What’s a little chink like you doing here so early in the morning?” she heard him say then he began to walk over to her in a fast pace. It was his eyes that she noticed at first they were normally a dark hue, but at this moment they were a bright amber yellow. Anzu slammed her locker shut and began running down the hall as fast as she could, her legs were sore from training with her father the afternoon before, but she had to keep running because the thing that was chasing her certainly wasn’t Hockstetter. She looked back and the Hockstetter impersonator had grown larger to an unnatural almost familiar size; something from Anzu's childhood before she had come to America.

It screamed her name and she began turning a corner towards the art room when she ran into someone without paying attention, “Fuck, what the hell are you doing, Kawakami?” she heard Bowers familiar voice, she had run into his arms and he was currently holding her just as she looked over at him with fear in her eyes. Henry held her closer seeing the distress she was in; he immediately thought it was Swanson who was chasing her and became protective instantly. 

“Is it Swanson? Where is he, Ima beat his fuckin ass-“he was interrupted by Anzu shaking her head no, “I-it looked like Hockstetter, but I don’t know.” She looked back behind her and saw no one else there. 

“Hockstetter? I ain’t seen him around cuz I walked to school today, Kawakami what’s going on with you?” he asked not letting her out of his arms just yet, he felt like he might not have another chance ever again. He felt that her figure was smaller than he anticipated, he held her waist in his hands; she was thin and muscular for someone her size and wondered if she worked out.

She looked to the side for a bit and closed her eyes then took a deep breath, she had to calm down or else she’d lose her mind. When Anzu opened her eyes she saw that Henry had moved his head closer to hers, which startled her. “Bowers?” she asked moving her head back as embarrassment crawled across his face. He quickly stepped away from her crossing his arms over his chest in defense, “Kawakami, I don’t know what the fuck you’re trying to do, but it needs to stop.”

It was in that moment when she closed her eyes that he saw an opportunity to kiss her and with no one around he would do so, but she HAD to open her eyes just as he was making his move.

“Stop doing what? What did I do to you? Wait were you just about to kiss me?” she asked quizzically, her eyebrow arching. Henry turned red and no longer wanted to look at her, but was in deep thought; he didn’t know what to say yet.

“You need to stop being so fuckin cute and… fuck I can’t stand it! Every time I see you, yer always doing something that gets me goin’ and yer not even my fuckin’ girl, why can’t you just be normal and stop being so fuckin’ good to look at Kawakami? I can’t get you out of my head! I think about you when I shouldn’t, you know Greta broke up with me? She said I wasn’t paying enough attention to her and it was because I was thinkin’ about you!” he yelled pacing back and forth in front of her, he looked at her for a response. 

“I’m sorry if I hurt you in any way, Bowers believe me I didn’t mean to, but you can be confusing, too. You either like me or are messing with me just to get in my pants, I’m not sure what is true.” Anzu placed her hands at her waist; Bowers bit his lip and looked her in the eye this time.

“I want you, Kawakami. I can’t keep doing this if you ain’t my girl. Would you be my girl? It would have to be a secret, but it doesn’t matter because I just want you. I can get past you not being white, I just want you to be with me, but I gotta be in charge.” He confessed moving closer to her, he could feel her body heat near him.

“Then what’s the point in us being together if you’re just going to keep me a secret? I think it does bother you that I’m not white, why would you say it like that, Bowers? I can’t be with you if you’re not even honest with yourself about what or who you actually want. This thing about you being in charge or in control is bullshit, being in a relationship is a two-way street Bowers or was that not how it was with Greta?” She looked at him now taking a stronger stance; as soon as she finished Henry rounded on Anzu getting in her face. 

“So you’re rejecting me? Because I’m gonna be in charge? Kawakami, the man is always in charge, always! Actually, I’m glad you’re rejecting me because then I won’t have to fuckin’ deal with your cutesy bullshit and move on to a real woman who just fuckin’ listens to everything I say. Thank you for helping me realize that I was only wasting my mother fuckin’ time, now fuck off Jap.” He stared down at her just as she looked up at him boldly.

“You are the last boy I would ever think to be my boyfriend, you’re ashamed of being with anyone whose different so much so that it scares the living hell out of you. You’re too afraid that you’ll get called a hypocrite or worse instead of just being honest with yourself. I’m glad I didn’t share too much with you Bowers, I’ll know better for next time I meet another racist jerk who tries to make me feel like I’m less.” She glared up at him.

There was a single moment where Bowers and Kawakami simply glared at one another, their faces inches apart and their emotions intensified. Their breathing had somewhat quickened, his eyes stared into hers intently and not out of anger. Anzu glared up at Henry sensing his emotion roll off, she almost wanted him to act on his longing for her in that moment if he really was. Anzu had moved her head back slightly and noticed that his head would trail alongside hers, as if he had no control of his own movements. Henry’s eyes flicked to her lips quickly deciding if he should ignore everything and just give in to his yearning, but his anger won in the end. 

“Thanks for wasting my time.” Anzu heard Bowers say and she watched him storm off leaving her standing in the middle of the hall. Anzu simply took a deep breath hardened herself for what was possibly to come from the Bowers Gang after whatever this fight was.  
________________________________________________________

Henry was furious, never had a girl he invested time in talking to turn him down. Besides he didn’t understand what she was asking for, why did he have to be public about being with her? Wasn’t her having him enough? 

However, burning this one bridge felt very wrong to Henry and that he might have made a huge mistake dismissing Kawakami as quickly as he did. Nevertheless, Henry already said what he said and he was going to live with it. Even if it hurt him right now, he would get over her and toughen up because “Women are a dime a dozen and not really worth keepin’ around ‘cept for fuckin’.” Is what he would hear his dad say whenever Henry asked about his mother when he was younger.

He imagined how hurt Kawakami must have been when he called her a Jap and told her to fuck off, what was he doing? He stopped himself in the hallway; his body trembled with the conflict that was happening in him, what did he want?

Her, he wanted Anzu Kawakami, but how? When they just fought about whatever they were fighting about? Was she mad at him for not wanting to be honest? That he wanted to control her? Did she hate him? Was it too late? He couldn’t go to his dad for this. Maybe he could talk to Belch or Victor. He continued walking until kids started trickling in and as the day started he moved around in a daze.

His friends asked if he was good and he lied saying he was high.

Reggie Huggins could see something was wrong with his friend, but didn’t want to ask. Huggins would wait for Henry to go to him or Vic, if he ever decided to. He knew that it wasn’t like Bowers to act so lost and irritable, but there he was getting upset for any little thing. It had to have been that Kawakami girl he was fawning after, but he had to be sure. 

“I think there was some kinda fallin’ out between them two.” He suddenly spoke up to Victor during one class they had together.

“Between who?” Asked Vic, as he wrote down notes.

“Kawakami and Bowers, I don’t think they’re talking any more, man. It kinda sucks to be honest, seemed like he was gonna chill out.” Huggins stopped writing and just stared at the board in front of the classroom.

Victor sighed, “All good things must come to an end. I think he’ll talk to us when he’s ready.” He acknowledged as he continued writing notes.  
______________________________________________________________

Across campus, Bill found Anzu working in the Library and sat down with her, he noticed that she seemed lost in thought and far away during breakfast. Stanley, Eddie, and Richie didn’t know what was going on with her, but they left it up to Bill to talk to her. 

“I-I-Is this s-seat t-t-t-taken?” he quietly asked so as not to startle her, she looked up at him from her book and sighed in relief that it was him and not anyone else.

“It’s yours, what’s up Bill?” she inquired briefly going back to her book, she noticed that he didn’t have any work with him or any books to read. They sat across from each other for a bit, Anzu slowly closed her book and looked over at Bill.

“Y-You s-seem k-k-kind of s-sad, I-I w-was wondering if y-you w-w-wanted to t-talk about it?” he said, seeing how she would listen to his theories about where Georgie could have wound up then this was the least he could do for her. Anzu smiled at him kindly and bit by bit she told him about her interactions with Bowers; Bill was stunned to say the least and a bit betrayed, but he felt kind of bad for them. If she could get Bowers to back off then maybe he wouldn’t bully them so much. However, Bill also knew Anzu was a person with emotions and not someone who should be taken advantage of. He regretted thinking about Anzu that way, in all of this Bowers really might have liked her in some strange way and she him. He watched as Anzu got up to put her book back and he took the opportunity to get up as well.

“C-Can I-I-I of-fer y-you a h-hug t-then?” he asked shyly opening his arms to her, she nodded non verbally agreeing as she came over into his embrace. He hugged her for a while resting her head on his shoulder, he rubbed her back between the shoulder blades. “I-its ok, y-you h-h-have us, A-Anzu.” He patted her back gently as Anzu held him closer and mumbled thanks. For some reason this hug wasn’t as awkward as either one was expecting, Bill saw a friend in need and that was all; Anzu simply needed someone to vent her frustrations to and Bill was a good listener. 

Bowers came back to see if she had been there like she usually was, he didn’t know what he would do, but he just wanted to see her and found her talking to Bill and him offering to hug her. He watched this go on becoming angrier by the second, Denbrough was able to touch her, but he wasn’t? He growled lowly and left the Library, but not before knocking over a few books.  
______________________________________________________________________

During lunch, Anzu waited for her friends to arrive from the lunch line, she took a quick look around and found that Bowers and his friends were at their own table; she breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were away from her. Henry looked around the lunch room with his eyes falling on her. He made an unreadable expression and looked away; her view was suddenly blocked when Richie sat down next to her. 

“Hey, it’s fresh outside maybe we should go and eat lunch out there, besides we gotta talk about what the hell we’re doing for Halloween.” Richie stated as he looked over at his friends, everyone agreed and they all stood to leave.

Belch quickly pointed over at the losers and the boys watched them take their lunch outside, “Looks like those losers are leavin'.” He stated nudging Bowers arm. Henry was annoyed with this, with Anzu seemingly avoiding him now; he still felt the sting from their falling out and how in his heart he didn’t want to let things go with Kawakami. If only he hadn’t said the shit he said maybe she’d still be interested in him.

Sitting outside was refreshing and a step out from the normal for the Bill and his friends, something they sorely needed and maybe they could relax for a bit. They all sat under a tree and began to eat, have conversations, joked about school and each other; Richie poking fun at Eddie and his fanny pack full of pills, Eddie firing back with how he looked like an old woman or a fly with how big his eyes were behind the glasses. Stanley, Anzu, and Bill talked about the actual plans for Halloween then Richie and Eddie finally joined in; they discussed that there would be a big Halloween festival at the park this Tuesday after school let out.

“Ok, who’s able to go tomorrow night? We know it’s a school night.” Richie announced raising his hand and looking around expectantly, Eddie raised his hand quickly, Anzu raised her hand then added, “I’ll ask my parents, but I’m sure they’ll want to be there at the festival too. I could ask them to pick you guys up.” She offered with a hint of a smile, Bill nodded and saying, “Y-Yeah, j-just let m-m-me a-ask my f-folks.” Stanley declined saying his family were having a gathering to which Richie dropped his arm, “Holy shit I forgot, maybe my parents are doing something too, ah man this blows.” He said sadly.

“Maybe your parents might change their mind and let you go later in the evening?” Anzu offered as reassurance. Richie just nodded his head and suddenly Eddie was tugging on his arm and subtly pointing ahead of them. The group slowly turned to look as the Bowers Gang was making their way through the courtyard, it wasn’t as if Anzu and her friends were the only kids sitting outside but given the recent falling out they had it gave Anzu a bit of anxiety. 

“We should go, now.” Anzu said hastily and everyone agreed. They all began to get up at that moment to throw their food in the trash when they heard Hockstetter’s wolf whistle; they started moving quickly into the building.

“Where ya goin, Kawakami? I just wanna have a little talk.” Anzu heard Bowers call her out.

“I mean I thought you wanted to stay on my dick after our first chat.” He said a bit louder, hearing ‘oohs’ from some of the kids who could hear and then came the whispers as they reached Anzu. This made her turn around, but Bill stopped to grab her shoulder. 

“L-L-Let’s go, A-Anzu.” He said already knowing what happened between them; Henry stalked closer and stood three feet away from Anzu and Bill, Henry’s friends stayed a couple feet behind him.

“No, you need to leave my friends and I alone. I’m not interested in what you have to say anymore, because it won’t be the truth anyway. I now have nothing further to say to you.” She turned to leave and Henry, not caring, grabbed her wrist and turned her around. He tried not to put too much force in it, but Anzu quickly turned around twisting her arm to release herself from his grasp.

“Don’t touch me, Bowers.” She spat glaring at him rebelliously.

“Oh yeah? You let s-s-stuttering Bill hug you in the library. Ya let'em rub up on you when yer feelin' down, seems like anyone will do for you won’t it, Kawakami.” He fired back, sporting a knowing smile as he looked over at Bill. Bill stared him down for a moment and then Henry looked back at Anzu.

“Wait, you were watching us in the Library? You know what, I’m done talking to you.” She said now walking backwards away from him and his friends, but Henry quickly followed her which made her stop so they were face to face now. Bill tried standing in front of Anzu, but Henry shoved him not as forcefully, just enough to move him away from him and the girl. 

“What the fuck Bowers?” Came Richie’s voice as Henry saw Tozier, Uris and Kaspbrak quickly rushed to help Kawakami and Denbrough.

“You loser faggots better stay back or my boys will fucking have your asses, I’m just gonna talk to her.” Henry threatened glaring at all four boys making sure they all kept their distance from him and Anzu. He stepped closer and looked back down at her as he began lowering his voice so that no one else could hear, “You made me do this, Kawakami, you-” she cut him off, “No, you can’t be honest with yourself and that’s why you’re acting this way. You showed me your true colors and I won’t be around someone who can’t live with themselves if they’re hiding what they really want. Leave us alone, Bowers.” She said quickly turning and walking away with her friends, Richie and Bill glaring at the Bowers gang while Stanley and Eddie comforted Anzu as the loser’s left the courtyard. 

‘I can’t’ Henry thought to himself as he watched her leave again, perhaps this time for the rest of the year.

He grew angry and walked off in another direction with his friends following after him. Patrick decided then that he would begin to target Anzu again, he just needed to resume his plans for this summer; If he was being honest, she was just getting in the way.

The rest of the day went on, Anzu didn’t see Bowers in gym class or in art to her relief and she breathed easy for the rest of the afternoon. When Anzu got home she collapsed onto her bed, emotionally she was exhausted and she later asked her father for a day off to prepare for tomorrow's festivities in town. She asked if they could participate by going to the Halloween festival and to pick up Bill and Eddie for tomorrow, her mother approved, her father seemed uncertain, but Anzu was able to convince him that her friends were harmless. He requested that he meet them first, before they went to the festival and Anzu agreed.

After dinner was over Anzu was in the bathroom just lying down in the empty tub, simply thinking about what transpired today. Later, she ran a warm bath and got in afterwards and dipped her head under the water then letting the silence envelop her; she moved her head up a bit so she could breathe through the nose. The rest of her bath went peacefully, but she wanted to distance herself from Bowers; now it was like everywhere she went there he was. 

The sad part was that she missed him for some reason even though he was standoffish and rude. Their strange brief closeness was short lived enough to not make a lasting impression or damage. Anzu just wanted to be with her friends now and that is all that would matter to her. She thought of the possibility of Bowers wanting to start bullying them again and continued to mentally prepare herself for those future incidents. 

She got out and changed into her pajamas and sat down on her bed room floor leaning back against her bed as she started a slow meditation. Trying to empty her mind of everything that happened, the thing she saw that morning just before her argument with Bowers, more arguing with Bowers, she simply wanted to focus on the good things that she still had. Her friends tried to help her and for that she was indebted, but she needed to be strong for her friends because she was unsure of what the Bowers gang would do these days.

Across town, Butch was opening another bottle of beer and watched how his son seemed to lumber around their house today. Once he finished his bottle, he chucked it at Henry as it hit his back and crashed to the floor. “What the fucks gotten into your sorry ass? Look at the fuckin’ mess you goddamned made, clean it up!” he barked his order at the younger Bowers and watched as Henry quietly walked over to clean it up without a word.

Henry had only ever felt this numb once and it was when he realized his mother was never coming back for him. Kawakami was there for the taking and he was too chicken shit to do anything about it, she probably hated him now after how he treated her. Perhaps she was better off without him, she could find someone worth her fucking time and maybe she would leave town with that person. Every time he closed his eyes, he would only see her beautifully confused face simply listening to the horrible shit he was saying to her. Of course, he never meant to start up with the racial slurs, as he was calling her those stupid things it sounded like his father and another voice was saying it; while the whole time his mind was screaming for him to stop.

He quietly walked away to his bed room and sat down on his bed, he stared at the wall, which was filled with posters of rock bands and scantily clad women, all he could see was the look on her face when he told her to fuck off and then when he pathetically tried to blame her for how she made him feel and act.

If he ever earned another look from her again, he wouldn’t be worthy of it, he was resigned to the fact that he would never be able to talk to her anymore like he used to and stand in her personal space. He would do his best to stay away from her, any chance of having her now ended today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	4. Changing and moving on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate your comments, thank you. Ch.4 is up please enjoy. :)

Tuesday October 31, 1989, was marked on Anzu’s calendar with large letters spelling “HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL TONIGHT”. She stared at her calendar making more notes for future dates, her mother was going to up a bakery next month in November; she made a note that she would be busy those first days to help her set up. 

Anzu got ready for school as she made her way down the stairs. Running into her father who was just going up, “Morning papa, did you sleep alright?” she asked stopping for his response. “I did, baby.” He said giving her a kiss on the forehead, “Your mother is so motivated about opening up that new bakery shop she’s been dreaming of for years, it’s our job to help her out, ok? She’s down stairs in the kitchen if you want to see her, just let me get dressed and I’ll take you to school.” He said reaching over and squeezing her shoulder. Anzu ran down stairs to join her mother in the kitchen, giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. “Are you ready to open this Bakery, mama?” she asked excitedly, “What are you going to call it? “She continued.

“I was thinking K Bakes? I don’t want to confuse people with our last name so let’s make it short, sweet and to the point.” Anzu agreed, maybe one day she could convince her mother to add their full last name, but for now baby step she guessed.

“You call the bakery what you want, mama. I’m going to help you set up the shop on those days, is that ok?” Anzu asked and her mother nodded appreciatively. 

“I’m going to be holding interviews today, for anyone who can bake alongside me. You know how your father works in accounting; he informed me that he would help me with purchasing supplies for the shop. Oh he’s really pulling out all the stops this time; we can finally settle down here and go on with our lives just like we used to. You shouldn’t have to want for anything, my little apricot.” Her mother gave Anzu a hug to which her daughter returned. “This place will be better for us, it has to.” Anzu heard her mother say into her shoulder. Mrs. Kawakami looked over her daughter as if committing her visage to memory.

She stonewalled the memories of back home from her mind. ‘Not like last time.’ Anzu thought in her head, things would be different and she would be more careful. She remembered the thing she saw at school and a sense of dread swelled within her, it wasn’t real, right?  
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The drive over to school was fraught with questions about what type of baked goods her mother was looking to sell, what Anzu was dressing as for Halloween and that Anzu only needed black and white face paint. He agreed to take her to the store after school and said his goodbye to her as he dropped her off.

Anzu quickly made her way over to her locker avoiding anyone who might want to talk to her, she literally ran in Ben just as she was opening the door to go inside.

“Hey are you ok?” she asked watching as he looked distressed, Ben looked back behind him and they both saw Hockstetter sporting a nasty grin.

“Let me have, tits, Kawakami I have no quarrel with you.” His nasty smile was beginning to wane, she grabbed Ben’s arm and they walked off in another direction.

“You’ll have one if you hurt him, Hockstetter.” She warned over her shoulder. Ben picked up his pace as he looked back to watch Hockstetter get left behind. Anzu felt braver after what happened yesterday, if she was a loser then she had nothing left to lose. 

“Thanks Anzu, I just wish those guys would leave me alone.” He said once they were at a safe distance.

“Hey, it’s no trouble. A lot of kids in this town wish that, did they hurt you?” Anzu asked making sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere, she had come to see him as a brother and deep down she loved him that way. Ben shook his head, “Nah, they were just calling me names. I hope I don’t forget about you when I leave this place, you’ve been really nice to me Anzu.” He confessed and went to hug her which Anzu returned wholeheartedly.

“I wish you were my brother, Ben.” She said almost teary eyed after they parted, Ben chuckled with a smile on his face.

“Really? You’d be a pretty cool sister to have.” He admitted, “You know what, from here on out, I’m just going to refer to you as my sister.” They shook hands then suddenly they heard another set of footsteps coming down the hall.

“I guess yer just lettin’ everyone touch you, huh Kawakami? How she feel to you, pig?” Came Bowers voice from down the hall and he was walking over to them briskly.

Anzu rolled her eyes, she nodded for Ben to start walking off and Ben did so quickly. “Yeah you run away you, bitch!” he tried going after him, but Anzu got in front of him. He looked down at her annoyed and slightly irritated. 

“No, you stop talking like that and you back off Bowers. This is getting old; go do something productive for once.” She warned seeing him stop before her.

“You better get out of my way, Kawakami. Before I make you hurt in places you ain’t never been hurt.” He gave her a once over, noticing that she wore tighter jeans, but still had a big over sized shirt. He couldn’t believe this was how his last conversation was going to be with her. He growled already having lost Hanscom and was distracted by Anzu’s legs, his mind went to a sexual place when he took a step back from her.

“This shit ain’t worth my time.” He walked away from her; the only reason why he no longer wanted to pursue Hansom was because of how he was already talking to Kawakami and deep down how cute her legs looked and they would have looked wrapped around his waist while he imagined being intimate with her. 

Anzu watched him walk away awkwardly; she took off to go find Ben as the school day began. Once she found him they talked about their plans for Halloween and learned that Ben was nervous about going, but ultimately decided he wasn’t going if the Bowers gang would be at the festival. This was a bit of a disappointment for Anzu who had invited him to go with her and her other friends. She told him that at one point he shouldn’t be living in fear of bullies because there would always be around and that he would have to find a way to deal with them and how he would deal with these bullies was up to him. 

As the day went on, Bill and the others met up with Anzu and Ben for lunch. More conversations were had about their costumes and Anzu brought up that her father was picking up the boys that wanted to go. Bill and Eddie (with permission from his mother) decided they’d go with Anzu to the festival and Richie made them promise to bring him and Stanley back some candy for them to have, Ben asked if Anzu could save some candy for him as well. 

Gym class was watching a movie that day, as luck would have it, it was a scary film: Little Shop of Horrors. Ben and Anzu sat near the projector screen thumb wrestling as the movie played. Anzu was especially bad at this game as it would turn out, she kept squirming so as Ben wouldn’t win. Ben accused her of being a cheater to which she would be offended, but they still played even though Anzu would lose every time now.

“I may be trash at basketball, but I’m king at thumb wrestling, Kawakami. You can’t deny facts!” he cackled as they moved to their next class, Anzu was pouting after having lost so many times to Ben.

“That game sucked, Ben. I kept losing.” She said pushing him playfully, he laughed and then added, “Don’t move around so much then, Anzu.” He jested as he pushed back lightheartedly. 

Henry watched them play around during gym class, how can she like being around that tub of lard for such an extended period of time? He thought to himself. Hanscom wasn’t man enough for her, but he was and yet he knew why he was no longer trying to pursue, Kawakami. It still bothered him that she was just there playing a stupid kids game with Hanscom. 

He thought about how she had been standing up to him a lot recently and he honestly did it just to see her, but everything he was saying sounded wrong and there was a part of him that didn’t like saying it. He didn’t know what to do with himself when she was around, but he needed to get back to who he was before she came, he needed to return to being a solitary, strong man; like his father.  
____________________

While Anzu waited for Beverly at their drawing table, she looked through her sketchbook at all the drawings she had done so far, and she found pressed between the pages a white looking flower. It had just been recently pressed as far as she could tell, she wasn’t certain as to who could have left it there.

“Hey, that’s pretty.” Beverly said making her way over and taking a seat next to Anzu. The teacher began lecturing about a new drawing they would be working on, Anzu and Beverly theorized as to who I could have been that pressed a white daisy, Beverly noted, into her sketchbook.

They discussed if Beverly was going to participate in this years Halloween celebration, but Beverly’s father believed that the holiday was a waste of important family time. Changing the subject, Beverly asked Anzu about her situation with Henry and all the rumors she was hearing, but they both decided to have this conversation by the pencil sharpener in order to avoid any unwanted eavesdroppers, mainly Henry.

“So, he’s just going to go back to being an asshole?” Beverly asked mildly disappointed with what she had hoped would be a positive outcome. Anzu nodded non-verbally, there was something in Anzu’s eye that Beverly thought was curious; could she have been sad about it as well? Beverly wondered to herself. Of course, Anzu was sad, “Was he your first crush?” Beverly asked quickly as she loudly worked the pencil sharpener to sharpen her drawing pencil.

Anzu looked her dead in the eye and nodded somberly, “I’m sure I wasn’t his first, but he won’t be my last. It’s just like everything else that happens in life, I need to move on from it.” She said quietly, Beverly almost didn’t hear it, but she did. Beverly agreed stepping aside to allow Anzu to sharpen her pencil, there was a deliberate cough from the teacher signaling them to hurry and take their seats. Once Anzu finished they both took a seat back at their table and continued their drawing while passing little notes to one another.  
____________________

The school day finally came to an end, Anzu said goodbye to Beverly, who left the opposite end of the school, she said her goodbyes Ben, who she helped walk to his bike before promising to get his share of candy and then met up with Bill, Stanley, Richie, Eddie at the main entrance.

“So, I called my parents during my 8th period class and they said I could go with you.” Richie announced wearing a big smile on his face, Anzu squealed with delight and they high fived. Stanley smiled briefly, feeling a bit jealous that he couldn’t go, but let it go when he remembered that Anzu promised to bring him back some candy. Anzu looked over at him with a half-smile, “You know it wouldn’t be the same without you.” He heard her say and the other’s agreed. Bill patted his shoulder, “W-We’ll bring you b-b-back l-l-lots of c-candy.” He reassured and Stanley smiled humbly. 

“Thanks, big Bill.” Stanley said looking ahead while he waited for his parents, if he could, what would he have dressed as for Halloween.

“What are you going dressed as?” Richie began asking Eddie while they all waited for their rides. 

“The same damn thing I always go as, a fucking doctor, I always suggest something, and my mom always shoots it down.” He admits rolling his eyes. 

“What would you really go as?” Anzu asked watching him intently.

“Superhero for sure.” he said quickly and looked over at her, “What about you?”

“Skeleton.” She deadpanned; the boys simply looked at her. Bill looked over at her, perhaps this thing with Bowers went deeper than he imagined. He was going to ask when she began asking him what he was going as, “What about you, Bill?” she looked at him casually. 

“An E-E-Explorer.” He gave a half smile, maybe she would tell him one day. 

There was a honk causing all of them to look over to see Eddie’s plump looking mother parked by the sidewalk in front of the school. Eddie nodded over at Anzu to which she followed him to his mother’s car, so she could introduce herself and to inform Ms. Kaspbrak that her father, Mr. Kawakami, would be picking up and dropping off Eddie. 

“Let no harm come to my sweet baby boy, he might have a candy syrup allergy, so help keep him away from those candy apples and I’ve already told him to not eat too much chocolate or he’ll break out in hives if he eats too much. Eddie you really shouldn’t be going, but I’m trusting your little Oriental friend.” She said in a matter-of-fact way, her breathing becoming very apparent to Anzu who truly believed that Ms. Kaspbrak was the root of Eddie’s health problems.

“Her name is Anzu, mama.” Eddie responded timidly. His mother and he waved as they both took off.

She walked back over to the others; Richie gave her the ‘I told you so’ look to which Anzu shook her head.

“It’s like she doesn’t trust him with anything.” She said as they all watched Eddie and his mother drive down the road.

It was Richie’s parents turn as Anzu went to over to greet them as well, that had gone over smoothly and left soon after their quick conversation.

Stanley got picked up next, waving his friends goodbye. Anzu went over to introduce herself to his parents as well, which made him happy.

“S-So, why a s-s-skeleton?” Asked Bill now that he and Anzu were the only ones left.

“I guess I like them, they’re easy to draw. I think this is my way of getting over the strange thing I had with Bowers. I’ve never had anyone take an interest in me, not like that at least. You and the others have been really good to me and I’ll never forget it.” There was a pause then she continued. “Hey what’s your address?” she changed the subject and Bill smiled to himself as he began telling her. They talked some more while Anzu waited for her ride, it was her mother that came to pick her up and Bill introduced himself.

Parked out by the student parking lot, was Huggins blue trans am, the radio was on full blast. The boys were psyching themselves up for tonight’s Halloween celebration; they decided only to wear masks and were going to scam some free candy. Vic wanted to stop by the festival to see what was good, the others were curious, but half the town would be there. They also wanted to crash a Halloween party out by the quarry and smoke out later into the night.

Mrs. Kawakami, quickly took Anzu to craft store to purchase some face paint, Anzu told her what she was going to be and while Mrs. Kawakami was a bit concerned with the fact that her daughter wanted to be a skeleton she would let Anzu vent about what happened. Anzu wound up telling her mother what was wrong and her mother simply listened, once they found what they were looking for they paid and left, she asked about the boy in question and if he was the same one who was giving her a hard time her first day.

Anzu admitted and said she would get over it, her mother offered to bake her some Halloween cookies along with some milk on the side. Her daughter agreed to the cookies, but after they got back from the celebration.  
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Both mother and daughter quickly got to work on Anzu’s face paint and they worked until it looked like how Anzu wanted. Her mother loaned her an old black t-shirt and they painted the bone structure on that as well as some old torn up black jeans that would suffice as her boney legs. Anzu found some old black converse that she found the other day, she stood there in front of her mother with her arms wide open, “Ok, so what do you think?” she asked. At that moment her father came home, with bags of groceries, “Hana, we have a skeleton in our kitchen.” He said in mock seriousness, after placing the bags on the kitchen counter he walked over and placed a kiss on the top of Anzu’s head. 

“You ready to go, kiddo?” he asked she nodded, her mother stood up to greet her husband with a kiss making Anzu look away quickly.

“You look spooky, baby.” She heard her mother say, making Anzu smile.

Her mother put the bags into the fridge and they went to pick up the boys, the Kawakami’s met with the parents of Anzu’s friends, no one was odder than Ms. Kaspbrak who openly flirted with Mr. Kawakami. Eddie watched in embarrassment while Richie tried not to laugh, Anzu, Bill and her parents were weirded out by the whole interaction. After they left they quickly went to park where the celebration was being held, Mrs. Kawakami gave the kids some candy before they all took off. 

There were lots of people already enjoying the festivities, some faces Anzu could recognize from school. The boys freaked out with Anzu’s face make up and costume, “You look fucking scary Anzu, what the hell?” Richie gently poked her cheek and found that her face paint was dried. “All the better to scare you with, Tozier.” She pinched his cheek back, earning a chuckle from him. They all began playing around with each other, telling jokes, placing bets on who got the most candy, who would win the most games, they already voted that Anzu was the scariest and they were commenting on the others costumes.

True to their word, Eddie dressed up as a doctor, Bill was an Explorer, and Richie was dressed as a gangster which was really his formal holiday suite, but he didn’t care. The group was earning looks from both adults and children; most of them were really looking at Anzu’s costume. They were mostly ignored, but the group was able to get free candy for playing games. Richie wound up winning most of the games, the boys also set aside some candy for Stanley and Anzu set some aside for Ben and Beverly.  
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The Bowers gang pulled up and parked by the side walk of some houses, crossed the street and made their way onto the festival grounds, Henry wore a werewolf mask, Patrick wore what looked like a mask made of mock human skin, Belch had a hockey mask with what looked like fake blood splattered on it and Vic had creepy looking pumpkin mask also with fake blood. Belch carried a pillowcase to put their candy and once the gang was inside each boy quickly got to work scaring kids in order to get candy, sometimes they would go play games to win some.

“Holy shit Bowers, I think I see your girlfriend.” Mocked Patrick as he pointed Henry in the direction of where Denbrough, Kaspbrak, Kawakami, and Tozier were hanging out. The older boys were taken aback by Kawakami’s costume; Henry couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Her hair was down; her face was covered with black and white face paint, she wore and over sized skeleton t-shirt and black ripped skeleton jeans, he could have sworn she had painted them as well. She looked so pretty to him; her skeletal face looked really awesome she had to have painted it on herself, but he didn’t think her kind celebrated Halloween. He saw her playing around with her loser friends and it kind of made him jealous with how she got along with them so well; couldn’t she do the same with him and his friends?

His mind was crossing dangerous territory; he wanted to be a free man like his dad was. He didn’t need a girl or a woman to hold him down. He thought this in his head, but he watched Anzu while he and his friends started playing games. 

There was a certain comfort in being around her that he had gotten used to back in early October; whenever he spoke to her it was like she wanted to talk to him, he’d be doing all the talking and she’d chime in with a comment. He didn’t even know what her favorite color was or what she liked to eat. Thinking about all of this, he really didn’t know her at all, if he didn’t know her then he wouldn’t understand what she wanted when they last fought. Why would he be ashamed to be with her? He said it didn’t matter if she wasn’t white, but that got him thinking. Was he afraid of being made fun of because she wasn’t white? 

‘Yes, you want to go down in history for being the only white boy in the Bowers family that dated a Jap?’ it was his father’s voice as it sounded like it was mixed with another voice in his head.

‘You want them to start calling you Jap lover? Yellow lover? Want them to make fun of you because she ain’t got no Caucasian blood in her? She’s a greasy Jap, boy. Get your priorities right! Our blood has to continue ain’t no son of mine runnin’ off with some cunt from the east!’ his father’s voice yelled in his head. Henry had to take a seat at a bench to keep himself in check; he had to stop the voices before he went to a place he feared he would never come back from.

‘Henry…’ he looked up fast hoping it was her, it sounded like her anyway. Belch and Vic came over to see if he was doing ok. Henry told them to leave him alone for a bit and that he would get back to them when he felt better, “Go watch Patrick or somethin’ I just need I fucking minute.” He said harshly as both of his friends looked at each other concerned before taking off to look for Patrick. Henry took off his mask so he could breathe easier.

“You ever heard him sound like that?” Huggins asked Criss, as they now made their way over to find Patrick.

“I sometimes hear him mumble when he’s high. He talks about his dad and doing bad shit to Kawakami, but also not doing bad shit to her. It’s like he’s fighting himself or some crap. But I ain’t never seen him get like this, this whole thing happened after he stopped talking to her. Maybe she might know more, but we ain’t supposed to talk to her.” Victor explained as he looked worried, but Henry made it clear that they were not to speak to her ever.

“I don’t know man, I feel like alcohol and weed ain’t gonna fix this.” Belch looked over at where Kawakami and her friends currently were then he continued, “She might have been the one, y’know.”

“Don’t start with that bullshit man; there is no fucking ‘The One’. Patrick says none of that bullshit exists. Why you gotta keep bringing this crap up?” Vic questioned, he stopped to look at Belch.

“Dude, look who it’s coming from. Hockstetter’s got a fucking fridge full of dead animals and you’re taking his advice on if the ‘The One’ exists? Of course the ‘The One’ exists, they’re out there we just gotta find’em or somethin’." He mumbled the last part.

“I'll believe it when I see it, Belch.” Victor countered, “Any way what makes you think she might be ‘The One’ for Henry anyways? What’s your proof?” he asked looking at Belch expecting an answer.

“The way he looks at her, he still talks about her even though you and Patrick don’t listen. Yeah it sounds like he’s hating on her, but she still comes up one way or another.” Belch replied.

Henry leaned up against the shade of the tree to hide him while he smoked; he watched the sky darken into blues, oranges, pinks, reds. He took a drag of his cigarette, it helped him calm down while he watched Kawakami play games with her friends. Why couldn’t he be a man, go talk to her, apologize for how he acted, and then ask her out on a real date?

Not talking to her was making him lose his mind, even if he did most of the talking. He wanted to get to know her and he fucked up when he couldn’t decide what he wanted more: her or his reputation. There was no doubt in his mind that she was interested in him, but he screwed that up; just like everything he’s done in his life. His mother left him because he felt she didn’t love him enough, his father hates him because he thinks he’s not strong enough, his friends fear him because he’s just mean enough that no one can approach him, but along comes this little Japanese girl and she’s not afraid of him, not rude to him, she’s actually nice to him, she listens to him vent about the problems he offers to share with her. She would have opened up to him more had he just stuck around and was completely fucking honest with himself. He made a huge mistake and he was paying the price for not being straightforward, now he had to watch her bounce around her friends playing games with them, laughing, hugging, and joking with them. He’d have to watch her hook up with some fucking loser here in town or go off to make something of herself and be fucking beautiful while doing it. He was going to stay here probably hook back up with someone from his grade or whoever liked him enough to stick around this fucking awful town and he’d become like his father and drive everyone away then he’d probably kill himself from the weight of it all.

Anzu felt eyes on her again, it was the familiar butterflies in her stomach again and when she turned to look around she found Henry standing under a tree, his face lit up via cigarette butt. Her heart fluttered in her chest, he looked so handsome from where he stood. She noticed there was a slight shininess to his cheeks, ‘Could he be crying?’ she wondered, ‘why would he be crying?’ she asked herself. Then something else caught her eye, it was Zeke talking to her parents. She could tell how the conversation was going based on how irritated her father’s face looked. Her mother looked concerned with what Swanson was saying, Anzu dropped everything she was doing and made a B-line to her parents. 

“Hey Anzu, where are you going?” Richie asked noticing her take off without a word, he let Bill and the others know and they all took off too.  
____________________

“What are you doing talking to my parents?” she asked raising her voice slightly to catch his attention.

“I was only asking if I could take you out to dinner sometime, hey cool costume by the way.” He said with a slight grin on his face. 

“Do you know him, amaimono?” Her mother asked carefully, her father’s intense gaze made its way over to Anzu.

“I’ve only known him in passing, but as I understand it he took an interest in me and has asked me to hang out with him in some cases. I’ve told him on many occasions that I don’t feel the same.” Anzu spoke honestly, looking to her father for help.

Bill and the others chimed in at the same time saying that he kind of follows Anzu around; Mr. Kawakami did not look pleased to hear this. Zeke looked like he had just lost the upper hand here and began retreating in on himself.

“Excuse my class mate here, he’s had one too many drinks and we’re gonna take him home now.” Everyone watched as Henry Bowers and his friends came up just as Henry slung his arm around Zeke’s shoulder, Zeke looking confused for a bit. Patrick took a hold of Zeke’s upper arm with Belch and Vic quickly dragged him off. Zeke’s protests could be heard as he was being taken away. Henry looked at Anzu momentarily, tipping his head, “Sorry about that, folks.” His eyes lingered on hers before taking off. Anzu and the others were confused temporarily, but Richie broke the silence, “Let’s get back to the festivities shall we?!” he grabbed a lollipop pretending it was a micro phone and waving his other arm around. Anzu sighed heavily; she thought she was out of the woods with this situation. They went back to playing games; Bill and the others wanted to distract her from what just happened so they went into the haunted house, it wasn’t too scary, but it was enough to get her laughing again.  
____________________

A little ways away from the park, Zeke was being pushed up against a wall by Henry and his friends. 

“Please don’t hurt me, I’ll leave her alone, just don’t hurt me.” He stammered out nervously, trying to plead for himself. Henry moved into his personal space, he could almost smell the fear rolling off Swanson’s person. 

“I already fucking told you to leave her the FUCK alone, she wasn’t interested in you then and she sure as hell ain’t now. Your little manipulative ass even went to her parents to get them on your fuckin’ side and that shit didn’t work, I’ma let you in on a little secret, Kawakami is fucking MINE and if I ever see you trying to bother her or even mother fucking touch her again, I’ll fucking kill the shit outta you. Do you understand me?” he threatened, grabbing Swanson by the throat as he spoke to him. 

“I think he pissed himself, Henry.” Patrick commented with a smile, remarking how the smell started becoming more noticeable. The boys laughed except Henry, he almost felt sorry, but he mind went down a dark path had Swanson been successful he could have really harmed Anzu, he could have raped her, forced her to do things he didn’t want to think about, made fun of her and called her a whore, a slut and everyone would have believed him. Before all of this, he was willing to go down that road just like Swanson would have; it could just as easily have been him being awful and manipulative. However, he met her and they talked for a time and she was nice to him.

Belches theories were confirmed, he knew Henry had deeper feelings for Kawakami. Victor was starting to believe Belches crazy ass theory as he witnessed the way Henry talked about the Japanese girl. Patrick couldn’t fucking believe how pussy whipped Henry was right now, he always felt that Henry was a strong leader before she came to town, but now he was uncertain. She was starting to become the center of his world without even trying; Patrick feared what she could do to the gang if she were to truly become his girlfriend. Kawakami was going to ruin everything Patrick worked to build around himself; she was going to take Henry away from him. Henry wouldn’t be around to entertain him anymore because he’d do anything for her. It was like Avery all over again, this couldn’t happen, Anzu can’t be a part of Henry’s life, and she had to go.

For a long time as long as 3 minutes could go, Henry held Zeke against the brick wall he was pushed up against then he finally spoke. 

“You’re going to apologize to her first thing in the morning while I’m there to see it and then you’re going to leave her alone for the rest of her life.” He said venomously, letting Zeke go. Zeke gave him an incredulous expression as he began running off, it was all Henry needed to send his boys chasing after him.

“Now you’ve just annoyed me. Boys get him and fuck him up.” As soon as he said that, Patrick, Vic, and Belch took off chasing him down the darkened road. Zeke’s hurried breathing becoming more obvious as the boys gave chase; Patrick got to him first, and tripped him hard on the street as both Vic and Belch started grabbing him and punching him across the face. Zeke fell to the floor again seemingly outnumbered, his mouth was busted and bruised, and then Henry ran up kicking his face making the downed boy cry out in pain. The Bowers gang began to crowd around Swanson, kicking and punching into the night. After about 15 minutes Henry got down to Zeke’s level, “You try anything and next time you won’t wake up.” He patted Swanson’s cheek and the gang took off walking back to the trans-am.  
____________________

That night Anzu had a talk with her parents about what had been happening between Bowers and Swanson and her, she told them how Henry defended her from Zeke’s unwanted attention and how they kind of formed a brief acquaintance, but that ended as well. Anzu’s farther instructed her to no longer speak to Henry from there on; they later trained well into the night.

The next day at school while Anzu was barely getting her locker open, Bill, Eddie, Richie and Stanley were talking animatedly about yesterday’s events, when there was a sudden cough behind them. The boys stopped talking, Eddie tugged on Anzu’s shirt sleeve saying, “You’re gonna wanna see this.” Anzu looked away from her locker and saw Zeke Swanson standing a few feet across from the group. He was beaten and bruised, the skin around his eye looked purple and blue, his hands look bruised as well, and he didn’t look like himself. 

“I-I’m sorry for bothering you, Anzu. I just wanted to apologize for how I acted and I should never have tried to touch you.” He said quickly in a low almost scared voice, his eyes never meeting hers. Anzu quickly looked around to see if anyone else was around besides her and the boys, she quickly saw Bowers and his friends leaning up against the lockers and laughing, except for Henry who was watching them like a hawk. She quickly made note of each boys bloody and raw hands, they had done this, but she wasn’t sure why. 

“I just want to put this all behind me. I just want to be left alone, Swanson. Have a good day.” Anzu said curtly and watched him take off quickly down the hall. The hallway was full and many students saw the interaction, more whispers being uttered. Anzu closed her eyes and said to herself that this would pass; it was already November and people would forget about this in a week.

“What the fuck is going on around here?” Eddie asked looking around for some kind of answer or sign. Richie shook his head, “It’s like a fucking sitcom, I can’t wait for the next episode.” He said jokingly. Bill looked at Anzu only seeing her look as tired as he imagined she felt. 

“If y-you want t-to t-talk about it, I-I’m h-here for y-y-you.” He said watching her nod silently; she looked over at him with a weak smile. 

“Thanks big Bill, I don’t know what I’d do without all of you guys.” She thanked all the boys as they turned around and beamed at her.

“You’re our friend, we gotta stick together. Thanks for the candy by the way, lets share it during lunch.” Stanley said wisely with a smile on his face and just then the bell rang. 

During gym class she had snuck candy to Ben, who later shared it with her while they made their way to class. She told him about everything that went down at the festival and how she wished he could have gone. Ben promised that he would go with her next year and that he needed ideas for what he should go dressed as for Halloween. She and the guys talked about what they would be doing for thanksgiving break, some of their families would be going out of town, but they for sure wanted to get together for the holidays.  
____________________*

As the days went on during that week, Anzu learned that Bill, Ben, and Richie were going out of town. Eddie, Stanley, and Anzu decided to do some hanging out while the other boys were out of town, ride their bikes to movies and to the candy shop. Beverly invited Anzu to go hang out during the thanksgiving break, they would hang out by the park.

When it was time to go back to school, Anzu became somewhat of a ghost where Bowers was concerned. Henry was never able to find her at the library anymore, Anzu and her friends were always eating outside now, she and Ben were always hanging out together during gym along with some other friends they had made in class, and she avoided him during art class. Watching her go on was hard for him to witness, she was always doing something, going somewhere, or talking to someone. He would eventually give up and leave her alone as well.

As November went on, Anzu and Beverly would help Mrs. Kawakami set up her bakery shop. The boys offered to help out as well when Anzu told them about it, so they would meet up there after school and get to work. Bill and Beverly reconnected this way, from there on Beverly was a little more open about sitting with them for lunch. Ben was invited to sit with them during lunch as well, even though she’d been asking him to join them for about two month prior. 

Henry had to lock away his feelings for Anzu in the end, it seemed like she was avoiding him just the same as she did with Zeke. He quickly fell back into his old routine of harassing kids, being racist and being generally terrible. His friends wouldn’t ask if he was alright anymore because Henry would just explode on them, yelling about not bringing her up and how she was too dry for him to fuck her. His anger would reach violent tendencies, causing him to get into some fights in school. He would get the worst of it at home from his father who would get calls from school about his behavior, resulting in more beatings. Each fight he would link back to Kawakami because she wasn’t his to have, in some way she had brought tranquility to him in the past. Anzu would hear of these fights and feel indifference; she wasn’t anyone special to him. 

By December, Anzu’s training at home would evolve from hand to hand combat to using wooden swords. Her father would put her through scenarios in which she would have to defend herself, Mr. Kawakami imparting some of his wisdom about the fighting style their family would utilize back in the late 1800s. 

“The technique we used as swordsmen was and is: To protect our loved ones, if we are able to protect those we care for then we are able to be as decent human beings as we can. This is what I have learned since I was a young man and what you will learn. You are nothing if you cannot protect yourself or those you love, Anzu.”

So it would be that Anzu would train every day, knowing that when the time came she would utilize her skills when it counted. After that conversation with her father, she could suddenly feel the weight of her heritage upon her shoulders and after everything she went through as a child, everything mattered.

After Christmas break and everyone had come back, Anzu had become more reserved, observant and was quick to defend her friends and reserved her kindness to those that deserved it; she would make many acquaintances throughout the year.

As January continued, Henry would get a glimpse of her as the weeks went on, he gave up on talking to her back in October, but he’d still hope to see her around. He sensed something in her had changed as well; she was more serious and less bouncy unlike before. He sometimes wondered what had happened to her to make her change. One time during gym class Greta tried to open bully her by throwing a basketball at Anzu’s head while her back was turned away only for her to move out of the way as if she knew what Keene had tried to do, Anzu only stared down Greta in that moment.

By the end of January going into February, Greta began to spread the rumor that Kawakami was a whore. Henry did nothing to stop any of these rumors, it delighted him slightly and he would feel slightly guilty. Anzu had to have known they were saying all of this about her; either that or she didn’t care.

Beverly had shared what she heard about the rumors with Anzu, but Anzu wasn’t going to let it bother her if it wasn’t true in the first place. Marsh was moved by her tenacity to go on with her life not letting the rumors bring her down, Beverly felt like she needed to be strong like Anzu. Something about Kawakami said that she was a fighter and she looked like she could throw down, but Beverly felt like she would be prying into her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, much love.


End file.
